Aleja Baugh first picked up a bow and arrow at the age of 4 and hasn’t put it down since.

The Olathe High School student’s dedication to archery led her, as well as three other teammates, to compete at the National Archery in the Schools Program Open Championships over the weekend. The team competed under archery coach Joe Baugh.

“It’s really exciting. I never thought I would be this competitive in archery,” Aleja said leading up to the competition. “I always wanted to be (competitive), but I never thought that it would actually happen. It’s like a dream come true.”

Even on a bigger stage, she and her fellow Pirate teammates represented Olathe well during the competition held July 25-27 in Nashville, Tennesse.

Aleja Baugh was the top archer for Olathe. She took 57th place out of 384 female competitors, tallying 13 tens during the tournament.

Additionally, Sarah Baugh took 114th; and had eight tens; Ashlee Church ended up 133rd with six tens.

For Tristian Osgood, he took 274th out of 405 male archers. He finished with three tens.

The athletes said, before the competition, they weren’t too worried about their results. Instead, they expressed gratitude that they got the chance to go.

“It means a lot to me,” Osgood said. “It’s really competitive.”

Sarah said that she’s participated in national tournaments before but this competition was the first time she battled against others from around the world.

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